


Not Quite an Extended Vacation

by zarabithia



Category: Hawkeye (Comics), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-18
Updated: 2014-09-18
Packaged: 2018-02-17 20:31:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2322227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarabithia/pseuds/zarabithia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The real reason Clint wasn't part of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Or, recovering from a supervillain invasion of your brain is important and takes time. </p><p>If you're very lucky, you won't have to do it alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Quite an Extended Vacation

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this commentary. ](http://zarabithia.tumblr.com/post/96470262510/what-it-was-going-to-be-we-were-trying-to)

Three years isn't quite long enough to heal, but the voices in his head are calmer now, sound less like Loki’s actual voice, and only come at night. 

Mostly.

But when they come, Clint can get up, walk down the hallway to the kitchen in the two bedroom trailer that doesn't belong to him and make a pot of coffee. He usually has a moment or two to himself before he has company.

(Not always though, because he’s not the only one who has nightmares. Those nights follow a different routine that involves even greater amounts of feeling useless.) 

On this particular morning, Kate walks into the kitchen with Lucky at her heels before the coffee’s completely finished. Clint watches her move, notices that the burn mark from Madame Awful Pants still seems to be giving her some trouble, and pours her a cup of coffee without waiting on it to finish perking. 

He makes sure his hearing aids are in and turned on first. She’s rarely patient about anything, but she’s always patient enough to wait on that before she speaks. 

"Thanks, boss man," she says as she accepts the cup, though there is absolutely none of the actual respect for authority in her tone or her eyes. Clint’s glad, because he never signed up to be anyone’s mentor and the few people he’s actually mentored are back at … well. Some of them are back at S.H.I.E.L.D. A few of them are dead.

"Least I can do for someone who has been letting me crash in her rented trailer for three years," he points out. "With a pretty beach not more than a stone’s throw from here. Couldn't do better." 

"Thank the couple that went on extended vacation, not me." She smirks and self-consciously rubs her arm. "Your stone’s throw is better than most, so that’s not saying much." 

The cat wanders in at this point, as it usually does mid way through their morning talks. Sometimes the cat waits until Kate goes out to the beach to do her yoga. 

Clint doesn't do yoga. He does Dog Cops until lunch time. That’s their schedule. Sometimes he cooks. Sometimes she cooks. Sometimes, when they are both tired of barbecue and burnt food, they make their way into town and see what cheap food they can find. 

The cat reminds Clint of Natasha, and sometimes of Dr. Banner, but it suits Kate, too. 

"They could only afford the extended vacation because you paid for it, dear billionaire and philanthropist.” He stops there, because that’s all that Kate has in common with Stark, though he’d take her brains over Stark’s any day.

He also stops the coffee, because it’s close enough to being done and takes a drink from he pot. 

"Someday we’ll get you civilized enough to drink from a cup too," Kate snarks at him.

Kate’s snark has, over time, felt as glorious as Clint imagines putting an arrow through Loki’s eye would. And he plans on snarking right back, but then he gets a call from a S.H.I.E.L.D. communication device that hasn't been used in three years. 

He’s on official leave from S.H.I.E.L.D., and they all know that. They were mostly glad to see him go - and Clint knows that isn’t universally true, but it is still true regardless. Fury has his back, Hill doesn't think he’s completely evil, and Natasha doesn't think of him any differently. 

Nat Skypes with Kate and sometimes, they talk about the Boy Scout Nat is hanging out with these days over dinner. 

The Boy Scout believes in Clint, too, and never thought twice before putting his life in Clint’s hands after Clint had tried so earnestly to end it. 

Clint wonders what it is like to trust that much. He’ll never know, he supposes. 

But what he does know is that he is looking down at the message for far too long and Kate’s voice has concern in it when she asks, “Everything okay, Hawkeye?” 

Clint turns the communication device off without replying. “S.H.I.E.L.D. wants me to believe that Fury’s dead and Captain America’s gone evil.” 

Possibly he shouldn't be telling a civilian S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets. But then, he’s pretty much always sucked at the whole S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol thing. They should be grateful about that. It got them their best agent this side of Melinda May, didn't it? 

And Kate ... Kate is hardly just a civilian. 

"They want you to report in to take down Captain America?" Kate asks doubtfully. "One of two Avengers I’ve heard you say good things about?" 

"I’ve said good things about Thor’s arms," Clint protests. 

Kate is young enough that her laugh is still sincere. So when it erupts out into the small kitchen, any stress that Clint might have had about his shitty Loki dream, about Nick Fury obviously not being dead, or about Captain America obviously not being evil for fuck’s sake, evaporates. 

"They’re very good arms," Kate agrees, and it’s more of a purr than the damn cat could have ever imagined. 

Clint sets communication device back onto the counter where it has been for three years. “I know. That’s why I compliment them.” 

"You’re staying with me and the kids, huh?" 

One of “the kids” looks up at Clint and wags his tail. The other “kid” keeps on licking its own ass, because cats are weird. 

"Nat will let me know if she and Cap need help," Clint says with a shrug. 

"Wanna go practice, in the meantime?" Kate asks, putting her coffee cup in the sink. 

"Sure." Clint smiles and puts the coffee pot back where it belongs. "You know I love arrows." 

"Pretty fond of them myself," Kate says with an eyeroll. 

"I know. That’s why I’m staying here and not on S.H.I.E.L.D.’s bullshit mission." 

There are other reasons, but that’s as good of a reason as any.


End file.
